The Good Son
by adri0611
Summary: What if that little boy from Krypton was found by Lionel instead of the Kents?
1. Default Chapter

DISCLAIMERS: I don't own Smallville. I don't own the WB. And I sure don't own Lex...but I wish I did. This isn't complete and it will be long, but I wanted to get this out.  
  
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Lionel was standing in front of one of many windows inside of his spacious office. Deep in thought, he swished the reddish liquid contents of a vile labeled, "Foreign Material" back and forth between his hands. He brought it up to the light. It looked normal to him, but he always knew Clarence was special. It had been difficult to retrieve the blood from his adopted son. Clarence's skin was hardly penetrable. It took the boy's own baby tooth to cut the finger. How he came up with that he could laugh about now. But then it was anything but a laughing matter. As the memories flooded his mind back to that morning he placed the vile inside of a safe behind a painting on the wall.  
_____________________________________________________________________________________  
  
  
"LARRY!"   
  
Lionel was holding the boy around the waist trying to get him to calm down. They were inside of a lab room in downtown Metropolis. Completely out of the way little place that only Lionel and a few choice, well paid people, that he trusted knew about. He used it for experiments on the child. To test his abilities, which seemed to multiply every year.   
  
Clarence wasn't cooperating with the older man, nor the nurses. He was surprisingly strong for a teen. In a fit of rage he had two tables knocked over and a chair shattered. Lionel and two other strong men had him down long enough for a shaky nurse to attempt to get a sample of blood. She shook her head and Lionel sighed at the bent needle she displayed.  
  
It was time for another sample of blood. He had already used up the last remains. The skin on the boy was getting stronger and less vulnerable. Last time it was a lot easier. Clarence's teeth were falling out and new ones growing back in. Like a normal child. Or so Lionel thought. But when the teeth came out so did a significant amount of blood.   
  
He looked around the room for something stronger. A jar labeled, "Teeth" caught his eye. He grabbed for it. "If it worked before surely it will work now," he thought to himself. The glass fell to the floor shattering into a million pieces. Cursing as a sharp piece cut into him, he grabbed a tooth and yelled at the nurse to use it before it was too late.   
  
She took it and extended the kid's finger. He was squirming and the men couldn't hold him down much longer.   
  
"HURRY!"  
  
The nurse quickly tried the tooth against his skin and it broke just a little. She then quickly put a new needle in. Clarence calmed down immediately. Surprising both Lionel and the two men who were practically sitting on top of him.   
  
Once the nurse had filled four of the glass tubes Clarence was let go. The boy just sat there in stunned silence.  
  
Lionel kneeled down next to his son. "Yes, it's scary isn't it? You can get hurt, Clarence. I don't want to hurt you. I want to help you. If you cooperate with me you won't get hurt. But if you don't do what I tell you to do….just remember this day, son."  
  
He got up and lifted Clarence to his feet.  
  
_____________________________________________________________________________________  
  
  
It was a seemingly normal day. Lionel and Lex were on a "father/son" business trip. His wife had insisted on it. Lionel didn't much care for "bonding" with Lex. It wasn't something a Luthor did. His father had never done that for him and he had never wanted him to either. If it wasn't for his wife he wouldn't do much with Lex at all.   
  
He had never really wanted a child. When his wife had told him she was pregnant with Lex it came as quite a surprise. It made his wife happy but it had distracted him. He was in the middle of some important business changes and it couldn't have been worse timing.   
  
His wife was the only reason he wanted to bring Lex today. That and maybe the boy would pay attention and actually learn something.   
  
"Dad! Can I go outside?" A very impatient Lex was beginning to open the door to go even before his father's permission.  
  
Lionel thought about it. It was just a stupid cornfield but he didn't like the idea of Lex messing up his suit. Lex's mother had him all dressed up in a stupid outfit that Lex hated. He squirmed in it and kept taking the tie off.  
  
"No, I want you to stay here with me. I'll let you go outside when I'm through."   
  
He had a lot of work to do actually. It was piling up and he didn't have time for foolishness from a 9 year old. He chastised himself for letting his wife talk him into this.   
  
Lex moped around the office picking up objects here and there. Dropping them making them break. He would look up at Lionel each time and smile when his father would get all red in he face. He thought it was funny.   
  
"Stop it! Fine! Go outside!"  
  
Lex ran for the door but stopped when he saw huge meteor rocks falling from the sky.   
  
"Daddy! Look outside!"  
  
Lionel shook his head and ignored his son at first. "I'm busy! Can't it….." Then he heard a loud boom. He got up and went outside to see what just exploded.   
  
To his amazement he saw all of the cornstalks smashed flat to the ground. Just like every science-fiction movie he'd ever seen. Crop circles. Only this was all over.  
  
Lex started running and Lionel shouted after him.   
  
"Lex!"   
  
Lionel ran after him but stopped when he saw his son standing motionless in front of something. He moved his son away so he could see what he was looking at. It was a little boy that looked to be about three years of age.   
  
Lionel spoke softly to the child. "Do you know where your parents are?"  
  
The little boy didn't say a word just smiled. He tried to get the boy to talk but he wouldn't speak at all.  
  
Lionel told Lex to go into the building and wait for him there. Lex didn't go at first. Just stared.   
  
"Go now, Lex!"  
  
He reluctantly did as his father asked. Scampering off into the building backwards keeping his eyes on the small boy and then finally turning around completely to walk into the building.   
  
Lionel lifted the boy up in his arms and decided to search the grounds for some sign of where he came from. That's when he spotted the remains of an old truck. Burnt to the ground almost except for a beat up frame. He shuddered and tried to see if there was anyone inside still alive. He couldn't make out anyone in the car. He assumed this was where the child's parents had died.   
  
The kid kept looking over his shoulder as if he was looking for something. Lionel looked in the direction and saw something strange protruding from the ground. He walked over to it and discovered it wasn't a car. Some sort of transportation device but Lionel had never heard or seen anything like it. The child got out of Lionel's arms and began to hit on the contraption. It opened up and the boy got inside. The lights came on and the machine started making a very loud high-pitched noise. It wouldn't move however. It remained on the ground.   
  
Lionel didn't much believe in aliens. He thought they were silly ideas from the human imagination. He laughed. It was some kind of joke for sure. I mean meteor rocks? And a spaceship with a very human looking alien.   
  
The boy got out of the "spaceship" and took Lionel's hand.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________________  
A knock on the door broke the memory Lionel was conjuring and made him yell a little louder than he intended.  
  
"WHO IS IT?"  
  
Lex answered. "Father, may I have a word with you? It's important."  
  
Lionel huffed and opened the door with a fast motion.   
  
"What is so important to interrupt me?"  
  
Lex held his hand out. He showed Lionel a bandage.   
  
"It's about Larry. I found this on his finger. When did he cut himself?"  
  
Lionel smiled.   
  
"Since when do you care? He's a kid! Kids get scrapes and broken bones all the time."  
  
Lionel turned and walked back into his office. But Lex stood in front of him, knowing when his father was hiding something.  
  
"I saw the cut dad. It wasn't normal. And Clarence isn't a normal kid. We both know he never gets hurt. He's always is in perfect health. Never complains of injuries."  
  
Lionel's eyebrows raised a little and he thought to himself, "What if he knows?" He cleared his throat.  
  
"What kind of a cut is it?"  
  
Lex looked down at the bandage.   
  
"I don't know but it seemed to be healing so it must have happened a while ago."   
  
Lionel smiled inwardly. "He doesn't know a thing."   
  
"Well, the school would have told me if a child had harmed him, Lex. I know you worry about Larry but he isn't a baby. I'll ask the nanny if she has seen him rough housing with anyone lately."  
  
Lionel patted his son's shoulder. Side stepping Lex, he walked into his office and shut the door.  
  
Lex shook his head thinking there was more to this. But what was still a mystery to him. 


	2. Lex POV

Alex had always been his mother's child. She had loved his fiery red hair which was a color passed down from her side of the family. He would sit on her lap while she combed his hair. It was one of the most enjoyable times they had together when he was younger. Towards the end he would do the combing for her. A sad but endearing memory he would always think of when he fixed his hair.   
  
Lex was never close to Lionel, like he was his mother, but when Clarence was adopted he felt even more alienated by his father. More than ever before. Lionel cared for his adopted son more than his biological one. It wasn't so much that Lex was jealous it was the fact that his father was blind to everything that Clarence did or said.   
  
Clarence never respected his mother. She would try to get him to do something or just discipline him in some way but the boy would laugh and run to daddy.   
  
It sickened him how much his father let Clarence get away with. He could stand the disrespect towards himself but not at his mother. He wished that she would slap him or punish him for the way he was treating her. But she just got this odd look on her face and ignored it. Walking away as if she couldn't do anything. Just as she did Lionel. Clarence and Lionel were so much alike it scared Lex.   
  
When she died it was hard on Lex. He blamed his father in many ways for her death. Lionel never paid close attention to her needs, which had become Lex's life. He cared for her around the clock and watched her suffer through so much pain and grief. The only thing that kept him going today was the fact that she wasn't suffering anymore.   
  
When Lex believed in heaven he liked to think that was where she was. Trapped in a time where life didn't exist. Just a world full of light and happy memories of times past. He wished he was there. Maybe at least in her memories he was.  
  
____________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Lex started to walk towards his room and away from the door to his father's study. It had taken a lot for him to turn around and not charge right in.   
  
"Perhaps I am overreacting."   
  
He bumped into Clarence and saw a little bit of fear in the younger boy's eyes. The thirteen year old just darted into his own room and left Lex staring after him. At eighteen Lex knew all about being afraid of his father. He knew the cut had to do with Lionel but didn't really want to think about it. As long as Clarence seemed all right there was nothing he could do.   
  
Lex packed his things to begin on his way back to Harvard. The distance was good for him. He enjoyed being engrossed in school work. Not having to worry about the world. He would just take life one day at a time.   
  
His mother had always told him he could do anything he wanted if he put his mind to it. It was a promise he made to her a week before she died. She had told him not to become like his father. A lifeless inhuman being who's only desire was to negotiate business deals and sell his soul for a new corporation.  
  
He didn't know at the time what his mother was talking about. He was too young and thought she wasn't thinking clearly but now it was crystal to him. He would stay away from the man and the "family" business. If he ever wanted to do that it would be of his own doing and not from being handed down from a long line of Luthor's. Lex had to be his own man. Even if it meant Clarence would get everything given to him in Lex's place. He didn't care.   
  
The boy was more like Lionel in his character than Lex would ever be. It wasn't a compliment to Clarence, but he was only thirteen and this was the only life he had ever known.   
  
Remembering the day when he had found Clarence he shook his head and wondered just why this had all came to be. A stupid meteor shower and a boy who's parents were killed tragically. Trapped in their own vehicle. Burned to the ground.   
  
At times he could feel sorry for the child. He even pitied him for the choice of parent that he had gotten handed in his life. If it hadn't have been for that blasted trip to "Smallville" maybe none of this would have happened.   
  
He walked out of the room, suitcase in tow. Lionel was outside waiting at the limo with Clarence. His father gave him a stiff hug and pat on the back. Just as if he was being recruited into the army. If the older man had of saluted him, he wouldn't have been surprised in the least.   
  
Clarence looked at Lex almost envious of his being able to leave. Lex understood completely. Lionel had kept the boy under top surveillance. Lex never understood exactly why. He just accepted it as his father's way of controlling at least one of his sons. One he really did have complete control over from the beginning. He could mold the boy into anything he wanted.  
  
Lex thought to himself. Poor kid. Well, at least he wouldn't ever want for anything. He was given the finest tutors and extravagances that most children his age would give their right arm for. At least all Clarence had to do was stay within Lionel's vision…and reach.   
  
Lex could appreciate the space his father always kept between them. He could go and do wherever he wished just as long as he didn't embarrass the Luthor name. Yeah, as if the Luthor name was so damn perfect. But he did live a clean life. Not for Lionel. For his mother and her memory. 


	3. Clarence POV

Clarence was inside of the training room, lifting 300-pound weights as if they were as light as air. After school it was the same routine. He would do a significant amount of schoolwork, well beyond what a normal fifteen-year-old boy would do, and then begin his "lessons."  
  
Lionel was with him in the room but was paying more attention to the papers in his hand.  
  
"Father, may I go to bed now?"  
  
Lionel looked up from the papers. "You aren't tired are you?"  
  
"No, but.."  
  
"I didn't think so. You don't need to go to sleep any earlier than usual. I want you to go on into the library. There are some assignments for you. I'll join you shortly."  
  
He patted Clarence's shoulder stiffly and left the room.  
  
Clarence shuddered a little at the man's touch. He bit his tongue against the words that would surely slip out if he weren't careful. Resulting in a very heated argument between him and his father that he knew he would never win.  
  
He walked over to the library room across the hall and sat at the computer screen. It was a group of numbers and characters for him to decode.  
  
He swiftly scanned the first page, increased his speed, then reading fifty more in ten minutes. The challenges his father was giving him got easier every day. Clarence wondered why the man wasn't more pleased with his progress and why he didn't reward him by letting him go to bed early.  
  
When he had first showed him what he was capable of Lionel had been delighted but now things were changing. Nothing was ever good enough. The training had become a daily, grueling five hours a day, no after "school" activities.  
  
He was tutored by Metropolis' finest. They were well paid and knew how to keep quiet, which was a necessary qualification. The teachers knew that Clarence was different somehow. They were warned never to let this leak out or pay the consequences. You don't want Lionel Luthor as your enemy.  
  
Clarence was never allowed to go to a normal public school. His father would have it no other way. He remembered what his father said as if it were yesterday and not ten years ago on his fifth birthday.  
  
****  
  
_"Clarence, you are a very special little boy. You aren't like other kids your age. That's why you can't go to a normal public school."  
  
They were parked outside of Metropolis Elementary. Clarence watched kids his age playing and laughing.  
  
"But I want to go and play with them."  
  
Lionel shook his head and turned Clarence's face towards him.  
  
"Do you remember what happened when I let you take care of that puppy? You promised me that you would be careful. What happened?"  
  
Clarence's eyes filled with tears and he shook his head from his father's hand .Lionel let him cry. Patting his back a little he spoke again.  
  
"Yes, you remember that poor little puppy. See, I'm trying to prevent that from happening again. If I let you play with those kids, they might end up like Felix. You wouldn't want that would you? I'm only trying to protect you."  
  
Clarence shook his head and sobbed louder._  
  
****  
  
It would have been nice to be normal, Clarence thought. Hang out with kids his age, laugh at silly jokes, or even study at a regular speed. But with his "chores" at night, he had to go through his homework in just a few minutes then straight to bed by eleven.  
  
Clarence didn't have too many friends. Well, he wasn't allowed to have many friends, and what friends he had were workers at the mansion who were probably paid to keep an eye on him. He would sneak out to go for some fun late at night, a bar or some club with them. It was a way for him to escape. Take a breather. He could easily pass for 21. Although he didn't have to show any I.D. at the joints he went to, Clarence would drink as much as he wanted and never worry about becoming drunk.  
  
His father never asked any questions about him leaving late and not coming back until early morning. As long as Lionel had a pair of eyes and legs watching and following him, he could do whatever he wanted. That wasn't quite freedom to the fifteen year old, but he took what he could get.  
  
Clarence could have any girl he wanted. They would flock to him in pairs. He never allowed his "relationships" with women go very far, just casual flirtation. When it got a little more serious he would pull the plug.  
  
Then one day all that changed. The boy hadn't banked on falling in love with the sweetest girl that he'd ever laid eyes on. She was new to the mansion. Her mother and her had just moved to America from Italy. She was breathtakingly beautiful. Dark brown hair that flowed to her shoulders and eyes that matched to a deeper shade. Clarence melted every time she looked at him.  
  
Her first week at the mansion, Clarence came up to her and spoke fluent Italian. It shocked her since not many people communicated with her. He became her only friend in America and they hit it off immediately. Clarence helped her with her English and every night they would do homework together.  
  
****  
  
Lionel walked into the library. Watching his son figuring codes on the screen at an amazing speed. He walked up behind him and dropped a picture on top of the keyboard. The codes forgotten as it laid out before him, Clarence turned in his seat and looked at his father questioningly.  
  
"Dad? How did you..."  
  
Lionel clucked his tongue.  
  
"You haven't been honest with me, Lark."  
  
Clarence started to get up but Lionel reached down and laid his hands on his shoulders keeping him down.  
  
"You're going to have to tell me the truth."  
  
Clarence raised his eyebrows a little. The man scared him. Ever since he showed him he could indeed hurt him.  
  
Lionel released his son's shoulders and walked towards the bookshelves. Swinging his arms in the air.  
  
"I don't know why you do this to me, Lark. I took you in when you had nowhere else to go. Clothed you, fed you, put a roof over your head, and this is how you repay me! You would be in a lab somewhere split wide open if it wasn't for me!"  
  
Clarence got up. He swallowed and tried to speak. The words came out in a little squeak.  
  
"I'm sorry that this is hurting you, father."  
  
Lionel laughed. "Why did you do this? I've warned you about this, countless times. Did you think that I was making it up? You will hurt her and I won't be able to help you when that happens!"  
  
The words that he spoke cut him deeply. He looked at the picture of him and the girl of his dreams. Angelina. They were sitting together on a bench at a park. It had been hard to sneak out without a staff member tagging along but apparently he hadn't tried hard enough. He knew someone was following them at the time but was too captivated by the woman he was entertaining to really care. Clarence wished he'd been more careful.  
  
"I wouldn't let anything happen to hurt Angel. I love her."  
  
Lionel smiled. "You're only fifteen. You just think you're in love. Trust me, you're not. I thought I was in love with your mother but that never got me anywhere. She died on me, Lark. And the same will happen for you. You will give all of yourself to one human being. Your life, dreams, hope...and love, and it will all be for nothing! Just for God to take away from you and laugh as if it's all been some kind of joke! As far as thinking you can control what you do when you are around her. You aren't normal. You and I both know that."  
  
Clarence closed his eyes and tried not to shout, _You are wrong!_ He was in love with Angel. But he couldn't take that risk. He would never forgive himself if he hurt or killed her like he did his pet Felix. Or if she died on him...just the thought was unbearable for him to fathom.  
  
Lionel laid his hand on Clarence's shoulder. "I'm only trying to protect you, son. I'll let you think about what I've just said. I expect you to call it off with Angel by morning. Finish what you are doing and go to bed."  
  
With that Lionel walked out of the room. Clarence sat at the desk and just stared at the codes and figures on the screen. He took the picture that his father had thrown onto the keyboard and studied Angel's face. She was smiling at him, so serene and full of life.  
  
_"Could she just die on me like my mother did?"_  
  
He swallowed hard but knew what he had to do.  
  
_**To be continued...**_


	4. Lex and Lark

By morning Clarence found out Lionel had taken matters into his own hands. He had gone to see Angel but saw that her house   
had been cleared out. He searched the entire mansion with no luck. He was clenching his hands so hard, by the time he was   
through, that he could feel his nails digging into the palms. Taking a deep breath, he walked to the door of his father's   
office.BRBR  
  
Lionel wasn't there. The determined man entered to try and find some evidence that Lionel didn't send his girlfriend and her   
mother away.BRBR  
  
"Can I help you, Lark?"BRBR  
  
Clarence saw Lionel's assistant standing inside the door frame. He paused and plastered a fake smile onto his face.   
"Uh, no. I thought I had left some papers in here, but I was wrong."BRBR  
  
The servant seemed suspicious but said nothing. He nodded and walked away. Clarence breathed a sigh of relief and left the   
room. He had to talk to someone. The only one he could trust was Lex.BRHRBR  
  
Lex was getting used to being alone in his simple life at Harvard. Thoughts of his father and brother were becoming fewer   
every day. His mother was always on his mind. Her memory kept him going.BRBR  
  
Hunched over a load of homework that he had to complete before Monday, he didn't here the phone ring at first. The answering   
machine got it and Clarence's voice broke the trance Lex was in. He ran for the phone and picked up the receiver.   
"Larry?"BRBR  
  
The sound of Clarence's voice was a little surreal to Lex. He hadn't spoken with or seen the boy in two years. He thought   
to himself, he would be fifteen now. Then his thoughts went to his father and worry settled into his heart. Lex's shock was  
present in his voice when he spoke back. "Is everything all right? How is dad?"BRBR  
  
Clarence quickly reassured him that everything was fine then went directly to the matter at hand. "I just need some advice.   
I don't know what I'm going to do."BRBR  
  
His voice sounded a little scared to Lex's ears but he ignored it and let him continue. "Go on."BRBR  
  
Clarence began to tell Lex about his relationship with an employee at the mansion. Lex listened not really understanding   
why he was telling him this. "I don't see what this has to do with me, Larry."BRBR  
  
Clarence paused at the old nickname Lex called him. "It's Lark now, Lex," he said, recomposing his thoughts. "Dad had her   
and her family deported."BRBR  
  
Lex couldn't understand exactly why his father would be so cruel. He knew how much Larry meant to Lionel but this was too   
much. "Did dad tell you he did that?"BRBR  
  
Clarence sighed with a lot of emotion, trying to keep calm. "No, I found out this morning on my own. The bastard didn't   
want me to get to attached so he ruined their lives, Lex! I want to kill him!"BRBR  
  
Lex could hear the strain in the younger mans voice. "Ok, don't do anything you will regret...Lark. I don't want you to get   
so upset. Calm down."BRBR  
  
Clarence exhaled into the receiver and rubbed his temple. "Being on the phone is very inappropriate but I have so much to   
explain and tell you."BRBR  
  
Lex was surprised by this sudden change in Clarence. "You mean there's more to this than a girl?" The sudden memory of   
Clarence outside with a bandage came to mind. And his father's worried expression. He shook the memory out and tried to get   
Clarence to talk. "If there is more to this, please tell me."BRBR  
  
Clark looked around his bedroom to see if anyone was listening. "Can you meet me in Smallville tomorrow night at the   
memorial site?"BRBR  
  
Lex frowned. Going to Smallville wasn't his idea of fun. Too many bad memories. But Clarence sounded so desperate. "I'll   
think about it and call you back."BRBR  
  
"Thank you, Lex. You don't know how much this means to me." Lex heard the click of the other line and then a dial tone.   
He laid the phone back into it's holder and sat down on the edge of his bed.BRBR  
  
Of all of the people who Lex had expected to call he never thought it would be Clarence. He didn't feel it was necessary to   
go to Smallville. Just the fact that he was a "relation" wasn't enough for Lex. But whatever it was that made Clarence call   
must have been important and did make him pause to think.BRBR  
  
A call later that evening decided that they would meet in Smallville. He had never heard such raw emotion in another man's   
voice.BRBR  
  
Not since the funeral had he felt that kind of anger towards Lionel. He could control his feelings towards his father but   
he somewhat doubted that Clarence could. Not that he worried for Lionel's life. He just didn't want Lionel ruining another   
human being like he did his mother's. Pushing people to the edge was his father's specialty.BRBR 


	5. Smallville

The seventeenth of October was always hard on Clarence. He would take a trip to Smallville every year with Lionel to visit the memorial. Today he made the trip alone. A limo drove him to his destination at 3p.m.  
  
The car stopped in front of a wall made from meteor rocks and debris. Clarence got out and motioned for the driver to go park. He was going to be a while.  
  
It was no easy task for him to do this. Especially alone. Getting close to the wall made him feel sick and depressed. It always had ever since it had been built. He stood about five feet away reading the different names that graced it, etched in the smooth surface, just as he had a thousand times before. During his father's many speeches on behalf of the deceased, he would read them to pass the time. When he got older, and Lionel explained to him that these people had died because of him, he paid closer attention. The ill feeling he got deep inside helped him cope with the thought of causing this unspeakable tragedy. He was interested in who these people were now more than ever. It was a link to his true identity, not the fake one Lionel created for him.  
  
The names Martha and Jonathon Kent jumped out at Lark. The memory of his father speaking their names came to him. He wasn't supposed to be there and had overheard the conversation being discussed between Lionel and two strange men in business suits.  
  
He whispered into the cool air. "Could they be my real parents?" The question was directed to the names as if they would answer him. He heard stories about the people who lived here. Lionel always told him they were nothing but silly rumors. He wondered, if the talk about people with these great powers wasn't true then what was he? Was his whole life a lie too?  
  
A note caught his eye. He grimaced as he reached to pick it up. He was barely able to grab it. His hand started to convulse. The veins were popping to the surface and a green glow surrounded his skin. The fifteen year old panicked. Lark thought he was dying, he was in so much pain. The minute he took the envelope he ran away from the wall.  
  
"What the hell was that?" Clarence spoke to no one in particular but a man answered. "I don't know. What happened?"  
  
Frightened, Lark turned to find his older brother standing with his hands in his pockets staring at him with a worried expression on his face.  
  
"Lex? I wasn't expecting you for another hour."  
  
The older man lifted the corner of his mouth into a little smirk. "Well, I hadn't been in Smallville for quite some time. I wanted to familiarize myself with it again. When I saw the limo I knew you were here early, so I decided to walk on over. Are you feeling ok? You don't look so good."  
  
Clarence shrugged and ran his hand over his face. "I don't know. I always get like this around the wall." He sighed and started walking to Lex. "Our father hasn't been home at all since…" He paused and tried not to cry. Why did the wall always make him feel so damn vulnerable? He took a shuddering breath and continued. "I guess it's a good thing I don't have to see his face. I might want to bash it in."  
  
Lex laid a hand on his shoulder. "You don't mean that." Lark looked up at Lex's face and his older brother saw something very dangerous lurking behind those eyes. Like a storm billowing in the sky.  
  
Lark licked his lips. "I mean every word, Lex. And…just knowing how easy it would be to kill him…"  
  
The fifteen year old's lips curled into a smile then turned into a grimace. "I scare myself sometimes. What I'm capable of. What I can't do because I'm kept on such a fucking short leash that once I'm let loose…I will explode!"  
  
Lex furrowed his brow. Lark's cryptic words were confusing him. "What are you talking about Lark?"  
  
The disturbed man smiled and started walking away backwards. Away from Lex and away from the wall. After he was about fifteen feet away the younger man started to run, pretty fast at first but nothing abnormal.  
  
Lex didn't know what in the world had gotten into him. "LARK! What are you doing!?" He wasn't sure if he had heard him because in a quick burst the boy was gone, leaving Lex running after a cloud of dust in the far distance. Just as soon as Lark disappeared he was next to Lex and tapped him on the shoulder. "Looking for me?"  
  
Lex's eyes grew round and he tried to find his voice. "H-how'd you?"  
  
Lark's smile widened at the look he produced out of Lex. "If only I knew, big brother."  
  
Lex shook his head. "Is this what you wanted to tell me when you called?"  
  
Lark laughed. "Yes. You don't even know how good it feels to tell someone. I've been harboring this damn secret my whole life. I had to let you know so you would understand why Lionel had Angel taken out of my life. I told her my secret and Lionel found out." He paused at the thought of Lionel taking Lex away too.  
  
Lex swallowed hard. "Ok, so he doesn't want people to find out about your secret? Is that….all you can do?"  
  
Lark looked around to see if anyone was watching. There were a few people coming towards them. "I can't show you here. You are just going to have to trust me, Lex. I wouldn't lie to you. Not about this."  
  
Lex nodded and turned to walk back to the car. "Lets go some place we can talk. I have a lot of questions and if you want my help, you are going to have to answer every single one."  
  
The younger brother smiled. "Thank you, Lex. I'll just tell the driver to leave me for a few hours."  
  
Lex looked at the limo and shook his head. "No, why don't you tell him to leave permanently? I will drive you back to Metropolis myself."  
  
Lark wondered at this but didn't ask any questions. "All right. Just give me a second."  
  
While Lark went to talk to the limo driver, Lex went back to the wall. He grabbed some meteor rocks and placed them in his pocket. He had seen what happened to Lark when exposed to them and if Lark ever got out of hand he wanted to be prepared. He couldn't take any risks where his brother was concerned. Walking back to the car he smiled at the younger man and they drove off.  
  
  
  
***** 


End file.
